Temple of Geek was in Austin Texas this past Saturday attending the 2017 Classic Game Fest. What is Classic Game Fest you ask? It is a convention put on by the gaming store ‘Game Over’ that focuses on gaming. This was their 10th year putting on this show and it shows no signs of stopping. I was accompanied by my friend Jeff of renegadegeek.com

YouTube Celebrities

This year, the focus seemed to be guests. Previous years, the show brought in one or two guests to appear during the con and give panels. This year, they had many guests including several that you may have seen on YouTube.

The first YouTube personality that I met was Norman Caruso better known as The Gaming Historian. I spoke to him about how he edits his videos and I tried to convince him to make a future video on Takeshi’s Challenge on Famicom. I showed him my support by picking up his first volume of The Gaming Historian on blu ray that he signed for me.

I also met two other names who are known in the YouTube gaming circles. Patrick Contri known as Pat the NES Punk and John Lester or Gamester81. These two guys were really cool dudes. I did not get to interact much as they were signing and speaking with other guests. I did take the opportunity to have a photo taken with each.

Billy Mitchell and Walter Day

Getting to meet two greats in the gaming world is something that I never thought I would get to do. Walter Day is known for tracking the high scores of players in the 80’s. He once owned an arcade called Twin Galaxies where most of the world records for the most popular arcade games were met. Billy Mitchell is one of those record holders. He used to hold the world high score record in Donkey Kong but is now know for the ‘Perfect Game’ in Pac Man.

These two guys were some of the most down to earth, coolest guys I met. They actually took the time to chat with each of their fans and actually seemed interested in the conversations. They gave a two hour panel where Walter Day handed out awards to other gamers and he and Billy told stories. These two guys even introduced Ernest Cline to the convention (more on him in a moment). If you ever have a chance to meet these two guys, I totally recommend it. These guys have some amazing stories that need to be heard.

Right after the panel, I got to meet Lauren Featherstone who just recently beat the high score in the arcade game Tapper. She achieved the high score during a 24 hour attempt at beating the record. Look for a future interview with Ms. Featherstone right here on Templeofgeek.com!

Ernest Cline

Those of you who read this site or listen to our podcast, knows that I am a huge fan of the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. So when I learned that I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Cline at this convention, you better believe that I was all over it.

Ernest Cline first made his presence known during the Walter Day and Billy Mitchell panel. He was presented an award from Walter Day and spoke a little about Billy’s achievements in gaming. During the Q&A, a fan asked him a question to which he replied that audience members cannot be asked questions. When the panel was over, I snuck in and was able to get a quick selfie with him.

We then had to line up for his signing. I opted out of purchasing his books as I had both signed already by him. I decided to just meet him, talk to him about his books and see if I could get a clear photo of him. While we were in line, we met 4 sisters who were as excited to meet him as I was. One of the sisters was sketching a picture of him while we were waiting for him to autograph.

I finally got to Mr. Cline’s table and I was able to meet the guy who wrote one of the coolest scifi books of all time. When I spoke to him I asked about potential sequels. He stated that he is considering sequels for both Ready Player One and Armada. He also revealed that Universal just picked up Armada, so there may be a movie coming down the pipes real soon.

More Ernest Cline

When Mr. Cline was done signing, he went and spoke to Billy Mitchell and Walter Day about signing his Delorean. Yes, I said Delorean. Ernest Day owns one of the coolest Deloreans I have ever seen. This car is themed from Back to the Future but also has other items from other fandoms. The dashboard has a fricking Power Glove just laying about.

Walter Day and Billy Mitchell both signed the inner hood of Cline’s Delorean. After they signed, I asked Ernest Cline where Steven Spielberg signed his car as I heard a rumor that he signed it. Cline opened his glove box and there was the holy grail of signatures! Before he left, he allowed me to take a picture of him and his vehicle and he departed the con.

Cosplay

It would not be a Classic Game Fest without cosplay and there was a lot of it. I took a few pictures of some of the coolest cosplay I seen at the con. This is one of the first time I decided to jump in some of these picture so bear with me on these photos.

Even More

How can I go to Classic Game Fest and not get anything? If you believe that is true, you don’t know me very well. Of course I bought some stuff! I picked up several autographs, an 8BitDo Super NES style controller, and games!! I grabbed a near mint copy of Night Trap for Sega 32X, Mario Clash and Wario Land for Virtual Boy, Megaman 4 for NES, and Shaq Fu for SNES.

Closing Out Classic Game Fest 2017

The was so much to do and see at this year’s Classic Game Fest. I wish I was able to attend both Saturday and Sunday, but I could only do one day. Below are some of the other pictures that I took at the convention. Is this a con you think you would want to attend next year? Hit me up by commenting below and let me know.